Marine life storage habitat medium and shipping method

ABSTRACT

Marine life, such as live brine shrimp, are stored in an aqueous habitat medium including a unitary oxygen-releasing, carbon dioxide-diminishing agent, namely sodium perborate, during shipment in containers, either open or closed, to extend the time the marine life may be maintained in a given amount of the aqueous medium.

United States Patent 91 Shapero et a1.

[11] 3,728,938 [451 Apr. 24, 1973 1 MARINE LIFE STORAGE HABITAT MEDIUMAND SHIPPING METHOD [75] Inventors: Wallace H. Shapero, Torrance; AlbertCane, Inglewood, both of Calif.

[73] Assignee: Mattel, Inc., Hawthorne, Calif.

[22] Filed: Jan. 22, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 108,832

[52] US. Cl ..l19/2, 252/186 [58] Field of Search ..119/15; 210/59, 63;23/60 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Willinger ..1 19/3Pemble ..252/186 3,623,455 11/1971 Kelley ..l19/3 2,672,845 3/1954Schneithorst.... 19/5 3,029,784 4/1962 Elbreder et a1 ..1 19/2 OTHERPUBLICATIONS The Merck Index, 8th Ed. 1968 page 963, Copy AU 331 PrimaryExaminer-Aldrich F. Medbery Att0rneySeymour A. SCholnick 57] ABSTRACTMarine life, such as live brine shrimp, are stored in an aqueous habitatmedium including a unitary oxygenreleasing, carbon dioxide-diminishingagent, namely sodium perborate, during shipment in containers, eitheropen or closed, to extend the time the marine life may be maintained ina given amount of the aqueous medium.

5 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure MARINE LIFE STORAGE HABITAT MEDIUM ANDSHIPPING METHOD BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The background of theinvention will be set forth in two parts.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention pertains generally tothe field of animal husbandry, and more particularly to marine lifestorage habitat mediums and shipping methods.

2. Description of the Prior Art Certain marine life, such as shrimp andother shellfish, are shipped live from their natural habitat to a remotepoint of use. This may be done by air shipping ten-pound unitscontaining a pint (16 ounces) of drained brine shrimp immersed in threequarts of brine solution. This means shipping about 98.5 percent water.This water content has been deemed necessary 1 in order to provideoxygen and to retard the build-up of carbon dioxide concentration.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,563,364 suggests the shipment of shellfish in containersor water saturated with oxygen. The gaseous atmosphere above the water(ullage) is displaced by or saturated with oxygen to supply therequirements of the shellfish during the period of confinement withinthe container. This patent suggests that the oxygen gas may beintroduced into the container in any suitable manner, but if desired, asuitable oxygenevolving material or device may be employed, providedthat such is capable of maintaining an adequate oxygen supply. Thispatent does not, however, suggest a suitable oxygen-evolving material orthe quantities of such material to be used for satisfactory results.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,563,364 also suggests the use of a basic compound in theenvironment within the container in sufficient quantities to establish apH of at least 9 or more for providing a medium which is effective toreact with the carbon dioxide expelled by the shellfish to form anon-toxic carbonate which may be in part precipitated. Additionally, itis suggested that certain stable soluble salts of alkali metal andalkaline earth group beneficially increase salinity, and that thetemperature of the water in the containers may advantageously be reducedas low as expedient, but short of freezing or injury to the shellfish,and that temperatures between 05C are convenient.

The providing of an oxygen generating agent and another agent to controlthe pH factor and carbon dioxide (CO level are thus known, but a lowcost unitary agent which provides necessary oxygen and reduces thecarbon dioxide level while maintaining the pH level of a marine lifesupporting aqueous medium has not heretofore been known. Accordingly, itshould be evident that such a unitary agent would constitute asignificant advancement of the art.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the foregoing factorsand conditions characteristic of marine life storage habitat mediums andshipping methods, it is a primary object of the present invention toprovide a marine life storage habitat medium and a shipping methodexemplifying improvements over the prior art.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a marine lifestorage habitat medium which includes a unitary oxygen-releasing andcarbon dioxide-diminishing agent.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improvedmarine life shipping method.

According to the present invention, marine life, such as live brineshrimp, is shipped in an aqueous habitat medium including a unitaryoxygen-releasing carbondioxide-reclaiming agent, namely, sodiumperborate, to extendthe time the marine life may be maintained in agiven amount of the aqueous medium.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel areset forth with particularity in the appended claims. The presentinvention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, togetherwith further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood byreference to the following description.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT:

Referring to the drawing, there is shown a shipping container 11consisting of a polyethylene bag 13 in a corrugated paper carton 15. Thebag 13 may, for example, have dimensions of 14 inches X 20 inches, andcontain 3 pints (48 ounces) of drained brine shrimp 17 reconstitutedwith 3 quarts of 5 percent brine solution 19, consistingof 4%:1 ratio ofroclc salt to Epsomsalts (MgSO4-7I-I O), the briiie having been aeratedprior to use.

To the solution 19 is added a uniquely advantageous marine lifesustaining agent 2 1, sodign perborate supplied with oxygen and somescheme must be used to negate the poisonous effects of theself-generated carbon dioxide. It has been discovered that sodiumperborate, which is available commercially at a reasonable cost,enhances considerably the survival of marine life in closed containersby decomposing slowly in the solution 19 to provide oxygen to the brinesolution 19 while reacting with any carbon dioxide in the solution byconverting it to the carbonate ions to reduce its concentration to anon-toxic level. For example, commercially available NaBO '4H O hasapproximately 9.9 percent available oxygen and may be expressed by theequation:

be expressed by NaBO +2H O Na H BO +OH', the latter being the hydroxylion. This ion reagts wi th carbon dioxide to form a bicarbonate ion (HCOas follows:

CO OH- HCO (2) In turn, the bicarbonate ion reacts with more hydroxylions to form non-toxic carbonate ions:

. The carbon dioxide controlling factor of this agent may ln carefullycontrolled tests comparing a previously known basic composition,magnesium oxide, with sodiurn perborate, samples were made up in 3 milpolyethylene bags (3% X 6 inches) with 60 ml of bring shrimp in theaforementioned percent brine solution. The following table illustratesthe definite advantages of sodium perborate over the previously knownagent and over a solution having no agent at all:

Contrary to the teachings found in the prior art, it has also been foundthat when sodium perborate is used as the oxygen generating-carbondioxide eliminating agent in either sealed polyethylene bags or inclosed jars containing brine shrimp, the temperature of the aqueoushabitat medium may advantageously be lowered to about 32F and need'notbe' maintained above this level.

It should be pointed out that the addition of the preferredconcentration of sodium perborate to a brine solution definitelyprolongs the storage life of brine shrimp and other sea life by (l)releasing oxygen at a controlled rate, (2) maintaining the brine at analkaline pH that removes carbon dioxide which is toxic to' such sealife, and (3) maintains the brine within a pH range optimum for marinelife.

This invention has been described in its presently preferred embodimentand it should be clear that it is susceptible to modifications and otherembodiments. Accordingly, it is intended that the foregoing disclosureand drawing shall be considered only as illustrations of the principlesof this invention and are not to be construed in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is: l. A transportation and storage habitat medium forbrine shrimp comprising:

a container for transportation and storage of the brine shrimp, anaqueous habitat medium disposed in said container, said aqueous habitatmedium being aerated and in-- cluding a 5 percent brine solutionconsisting of a 4 /2:1 ratio of rock salt to Epsom salts, said aqueoushabitat medium further including brine shrimp life-sustaining means forproviding oxygen to said brine solution while reacting with any carbondioxide in said brine solution by converting said carbon dioxide tocarbonate ions to reduce carbon dioxide concentration to a non-toxiclevel, said life-sustaining means including sodium perborate added tosaid aqueous habitat medium in a sufficient quantity, said quantity ofsaid sodium perborate added to said aqueous habitat medium providing aconcentration of between 2 and 8 Percent sodium perborate. 2. Atransportation and s orage habitat medium acdisposed in said bag.

2. A transportation and storage habitat medium according to claim 1,wherein said container includes a polyethylene bag, said aqueous habitatmedium being disposed in said bag.
 3. A transportation and storagehabitat medium according to claim 1, wherein said container furtherincludes a corrugated paper carbon for shipment, said bag being disposedin said carton.
 4. A transportation and storage habitat medium accordingto claim 1, wherein said concentration is 3 1/2 percent sodiumperborate.
 5. A transportation and storage habitat medium according toclaim 1, wherein said concentration is 4 percent sodium perborate.